https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/acc/university-of-miami/article289896159.html
Destroyed his liver with decades of heavy drinking which is also a risk factor for Parkinson’s disease (as are all the concussions football players accumulate over the years.)
In the annals of Miami Hurricane football, no game was bigger than the Hurricane upset of what pundits up until that time called the “most formidable college football team ever–the Nebraska Cornhuskers.” The Canes were just not supposed to win that game. The Huskers were scoring 55 pts a game, destroying the opposition in humiliating fashion.
That was Bernie Kosar’s greatest night. The tall, stringy freshman put on a forward passing game that stunned the Huskers allowing Miami to gallop to an early lead. Kosar was brilliant. Nebraska fought its way back and would have won the National Championship had it kicked the extra point for a tie game with just seconds remaining. There were no post game play off rules.
One of the greatest sportsman ever, vaunted Nebraska Coach Tom Osbourne made one of the class decisions in college football history; he elected to play for the win rather than settle for a tie. The play for the win failed, and Miami won its first NC.
Thus the halcyon Glory Years of Hurricane football began with Bernie’s greatest game.
From that game onward, I became a huge fan of Tom Osbourne as a football coach who deservedly became a legend in Lincoln, NE
Kosar’s TD to pick ratio was surprisingly bad.
The one game I saw him play live was in Ann Arbor the season after Miami shockingly won the NC in January, 1984. They beat Auburn in the season opener and should have beaten Michigan easily but Kosar threw 6 picks and they lost 22-14. Kosar kept forcing downfield throws even though Michigan was dropping its LB’s very deep to clog the throwing lanes. Everything underneath was wide open as were screens. draws, etc. But, Kosar simply wouldn’t take what was there.
JJ also wasn’t a great game day coach in 1984 as evidenced in the Michigan game and others like the Maryland game and Hail Flutie.
It has been nearly 40 years, and it still pisses me off… when I think about it or see that stupid replay.
Especially when you realize he won the Heisman that year for throwing one ball… really far. It’s not like he was dropping a dime over the right shoulder of his receiver or anything. 
I know the voting was not close, but if you really look at the stats of the Heisman nominees that year. Keith Byers from * was robbed. Hell, if they wanted to give it to a QB, Robbie Bosco from BYU had better stats than Flutie that year.
The propaganda to crown him after that lucky throw was relentless.
F that little twit. They may as well have given the Heisman to Gerald Phelan-- at least he caught the ball.
That ball drops incomplete, he’s just some regular 'ol guy at a little football college.
Where the hell were Miami’s DB’s? How does that even happen?
The 3 man rush that gave Flutie all day didn’t help matters much.
And that was only a week, or two, after the Maryland game.
I wasn’t the only one who wanted JJ fired after that season…
One area in which teams have improved demonstrably over the past couple decades is in the area of interceptions. Curbing turnovers leads to winning football games, and teams try to exert greater control in their passing game strategy. WR are not only chosen for their good hands but by their composite athletic ability, being able to gain yards after the catch, and fight off defensive backs making downfield plays. Nothing bothers me more than constant failed attempts at throwing HR balls. IMO, you don’t throw long until your QB shows evidence of successful rhythm in the short game.
Watching early play of Cam Ward, I like what I see, but if I were to offer a suggestion it would concern greater detail paid to being more deceptive. Deception plays a huge part in play action football. When I coached football with the legendary Carl Madison, whom I believe was the best high school coach, in Florida prep football history, I recall Coach Madison’s emphasis on trickery. When you see cameramen losing sight of the ball or defensive lineman tackling the wrong person, you’re seeing well-executed offensive football.
What I always remembered about the 1st Michigan game in '84 was that Miami had already had to play Auburn in NJ and they were #1 preseason and then played UF at Tampa and won that one coming from behind. Meanwhile, Michigan hadn’t played yet and basically had the off season to game plan us. I guess winning the third game was too much to ask. We did seem to come apart that year on D. Exciting games but we let Frank Reich come back from down 31-0 to beat us 42-40. Had a lot of those games down the stretch of the season.
Seem to remember hearing that Johnson wanted one defense and the assistants wanted another in the 1st season. I guess the players kind of got caught in the middle that year. It got way better within two years.
I think Michigan’s QB in that game was some dude named Harbaugh.
I wonder what ever became of him?